Lords of the Underworld (Beyond a Contemporary Mythos) by Carly Spade

Author:Carly Spade [Spade, Carly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-09-27T16:00:00+00:00

Anubis. I should’ve known the asshole couldn’t be reasoned with. What had I expected traipsing into his town making ultimatums? No matter. I didn’t fear not being able to best him in a power-dampened duel any more than I believed he did our job better than I. The townspeople were my number one concern, and I only wished to save one of them, any of them, from getting caught in the crosshairs—literally in this sense.

I’d been delighted to enter the saloon the following morning to find Thanatos’s usual corner vacant. I could still sense his presence, which told me all I needed to know—he was upstairs with the dying fair maiden. As hard as I knew it’d be for him when it came time to usher Clementine to the afterlife, I knew it’d be far more difficult for him to deal with the eons of questioning were he to have never taken the time given to them. But I would be there to help pick up the pieces, the same as I always had since Nyx brought him to me as a young boy, and presented him to me without question as part of a peace offering between the Olympians and Primordials. Only the gods know what would’ve become of him if I hadn’t adopted him then and there. I raised him as my son, and as the centuries passed, we became more like brothers than anything else.

It didn’t happen often, but today remained relatively quiet given the town’s usual crime activity or domestic indifferences. Since I only got a week per season to act as the “Boss Enforcer,” it sometimes made me antsy and bored. Thanatos remained upstairs, and I didn’t dare disturb him. I could handle anything that came through the door, be it an outlaw or Erebus himself. Though his assistance always made the jobs easier, and, let’s face it—a lot more fun.

Playing my third game of Solitaire, I scooped the cards into my palms, shuffling them as I scanned the room. The bartender wiped down the bar top, organized bottles, and mugs, and leaned on a railing when he ran out of chores. Because of the early hour, only two customers sat at a table in the center, spouting off farming and cowboy stories but mostly complaining more than anything else. With a deep sigh, I slapped the cards to the table, sipping on a tumbler of whiskey simply to taste it on my tongue.

A portly man burst through the swinging doors, his floppy hat shoved to the back of his head, his white cotton undershirt stained brown at the top from leaked chewing tobacco. Dirt coated his face, his hands, and a pistol dangled haphazardly from a half-worn holster and belt at his hip. He pointed at me, green eyes wide, a hunk of tobacco shoved into his cheek. “You,” he spat.

I continued to play my game, knowing whatever this man was about to say was worth about as much time as trying to lick a horse’s hoof.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.